Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Shad Roe
Ingredients
Directions
Poach the roe
Cover the roe with boiling salted water and add vinegar.
Boil gently for 8 to 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and drop into cold water to cool slightly.
Coat and fry
Roll the cooled roe in a mixture of milk and beaten egg.
Roll the roe in cracker crumbs.
Fry in butter, seasoning with salt and pepper.
Serve
Serve with fish sauce or lemon wedges.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Roe + eggtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together243 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Roe + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together442 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Roe
- The main ingredient; it firms when poached and turns tender inside when fried.
- Egg
- Mixed with milk, it binds the cracker crumbs so they stick to the roe.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the hot butter.
- Butter
- Fat for frying that carries flavor and helps the coating brown.
The step that matters
Boil gently for 8 to 10 minutes. A gentle simmer sets the roe while keeping it tender. A hard boil can toughen the delicate roe and break its membrane.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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